Port Monday News

Cargo operations at Port of New Orleans terminals will continue as scheduled Friday, despite the impending closure of the Mississippi River at Southwest Pass due to potential affects from Tropical Storm Karen. The Associated Branch Pilots, the pilots that guide ships through the mouth of the Mississippi River, will cease operations at 6 a.m. Friday. Carnival Cruise Lines has two cruise ships scheduled to berth at the Erato Street Cruise Terminal this weekend. The 2,052-passenger Carnival Elation is scheduled to arrive at the Port Saturday…

The entire Port of Oakland shipping operation remains shut down, idling hundreds of port workers and truck drivers, while an investigation continues of the accidental death of an ILWU Longshoreman aboard a ship at the Port Monday afternoon. The Alameda County Coroner's office said the worker was apparently struck by a shipping container as he worked aboard the Stutgard, a Hapag-Lloyd container ship. No one apparently witnessed the accident. Many customs and security offices were also closed. The backup will not only mean congested terminals when the port operations resume, but the shutdown will be felt in distribution centers in the San Joaquin Valley and elsewhere, where warehousing facilities continue to operate, Taylor said.